Gyalzen POV

"I can do it. If you'll accept my challenge."

As soon as I'd said these words, the others turned to me with Joseph exclaiming "WHAT?! Are you crazy? You don't know a thing about video games!" D'Arby mocked "He's right. You're out of your depth old man."

My expression remained calm, as I said "I wouldn't be so sure. To explain, one of my students also happens to be quite the video game fanatic. I indulged him in a game on a few occasions and have picked up a few things."

Joseph asked "Yes, but are you sure you can play at the same level as this creep? I hate to admit it, but this guy's a pro." To that, I answered "I'm confident. If the right game is chosen." 

Turning to D'Arby, I asked "I do get to choose the game, correct?" D'Arby's shock vanished as his smirk returned and he said "Correct. But what, exactly, would you be wagering?" I replied "I thought you'd know." Before pointing and declaring.

"I wager my own soul. Should you win, it's yours. Should I win however, you release Kakyoin."

D'Arby simply said "Good." And walked over to the cabinet with the dolls. He placed Kakyoin's doll down as he spoke. "I'll leave this here. And to keep it company..." Trailing off, he rummaged through the cabinet before turning to face me, holding up a doll of myself.

"Also, a little reminder of what you're playing for. Let's get down to it, shall we?" Placing my own doll next to Kakyoin's, he approached the table and sat down, gesturing me to approach.

Joseph asked "Are you sure you want to do this? Jotaro can take over for you." Jotaro nodded "He's right. You don't need to endanger yourself." He was right, but even now. I said "I will manage."

As I approached the table, I thought about the REAL reason I came along on this adventure. True, I wanted to help my long-time friend Joseph, but there was another reason. One connected to that one...

Flashback, 37 years ago...

"Master Joestar, Mr Gyalzen is here to see you, as requested."

As soon as the butler had finished his sentence, a child's voice cried out "Uncle Gyalzen!" I knelt down and opened my arms as the eight year old Holy Joestar ran into them, tackling me into a hug. 

Parting from the hug, I stood up, saying "Hello little Holy, are you being good for your father?" She nodded excitedly as Joseph stepped forward, chuckling. "She hasn't shut up about you coming since we told her." I let out a laugh and said "I'm flattered."

Holy proceeded to tug on my leg, saying excitedly "Uncle, uncle! I've got to show you a picture I drew, come on!" I merely smiled and said "Of course, lead the way." The child beamed and ran off. 

I was just left smiling...

Back to present day...

Despite not being related by blood, Holy was like a niece to me. When Joseph had told me of her condition, how DIO had affected it, I knew I had to help. Despite my concerns about DIO's return, I agreed with a moment's hesitation.

I would do everything in my power to help Joseph, Holy and Jotaro. I wasn't going to let some psychotic, condescending video gamer get in my way!

Speaking of D'Arby, he gestured to the pile of game cartridges, he said "Pick whichever you want. I wonder though, will you go for a racing game as well? No? How about sport? Maybe not. Then a simple high-score based classing? Hmm..."

I ignored his rambling and instead sifted through the different games until I landed on one game in particular. I grabbed the cartridge and said "Here we go. Street Fighter."

(I was originally going to feature Street Fighter 2, however that game came out in 1991, three years after Stardust Crusaders takes place. So I went with the original that came out in 1987. It was an arcade exclusive, but I still wanted to feature it. Below is a screenshot of what this game looked like).

Raising an eyebrow, D'Arby commented "A fighting game hmm? I can't say I'm surprised. For an old-fashioned brute such as yourself." I scowled "Let's just get this over with." D'Arby smirked "Well then, if you insist. The sooner I can add another doll to my collection, the better."

Taking our seats, we clutched our controllers as the cartridge was placed in the console and the game began to boot up. We were presented with a screen that showed both the Japanese and American flags, D'Arby glanced at me and asked.

"So, would you rather be Player 1 or Player 2? This will decide whether you play as the Japanese fighter Ryu, or his American rival, Ken." Thinking, I spoke "I pick player 1." D'Arby spoke, "Very well. You shall be Ryu, and I, Ken."

After a moment, the fight booted up. Both our character's could now be seen. Looking to D'Arby, I noticed Atum appear over his shoulder, just as it had with Kakyoin. I decided to imitate, Page of Cups emerged with a hiss of steam.

D'Arby asked "I assume you know the rules of fighting games? First to win two rounds wins." I nodded and said "I understand. That's why I picked a fighting game to begin with."

My focus landed on the screen in front of me, specifically the 'Ryu' avatar as I prepared to begin. It didn't take long for the announcer to call out.

"FIGHT!"

Straight away, I went on the offensive. Hammering down on the punch button, swiftly following up with a kick and another punch. This game's mechanics were slightly difficult, but I was able to grasp it.

D'Arby's sprite was forced to block the attacks at first, though I managed to sneak a crouched attack that broke through his defence and dealt the first damage of the match. Joseph cheered "Yes, Gyalzen dealt the first damage!"

D'Arby side-eyed me, saying "I see. So you do have some knowledge of fighting games. I thought you'd be figuring this out for the first time." His expression hardened as he said "Let's see how good you really are."

With that, he was the one to go on the offensive. One thing I was good at was reaction times, I blocked his initial strikes and ducked as he tried to copy my movement earlier to crouch attack.

I had my character flip backwards to gain some space between us and for a moment, neither of us moved. D'Arby once again spoke up. "Tell me, what will you do now? Perhaps, a jump kick? Or will you attempt to go for a special attack? Those do quite a bit of damage you know."

One thing stood out to me, as he asked each question, he'd leave a bit of a pause before asking another. Strange, but no stranger than some of the other Stands we'd fought up to now.

If he was expecting a special attack, I'd try something else. Leaping into the air, I went in for a jump kick. D'Arby remarked "Easy enough." He effortlessly blocked the attack before retaliating. And this is where I saw just how dangerous D'Arby could be.

Once he'd grasped a combo, he didn't let up. He railed down punch after punch, kick after kick. I did managed to block these attacks however with the help of his Stand, he ended the combo with a 'Hadoken' super attack.

I was unable to block that and with that attack, my character's life meter was depleted to zero.

'Player 2 Wins!' flashed on the screen as D'Arby leaned back, saying "One round down, one more to go. This'll be easier than I thought." I ignored his remark, instead remaining fixed on the screen. 

"Round 2, FIGHT!" 

This time, I knew was I was up against. Seems D'Arby was intent on ending this quickly. Instantly going in for a  Hadoken. Seems already, he'd made a mistake. I was able to jump over it and landed a jump kick directly into his face, again, landing the first damage of the round. 

This time though, I capitalised on it. From my time playing this game with my student, I did pick up a few combos. I instantly went in to perform a super attack of my own, the 'Hurricane Kick'. My character stuck his leg out and spun around.

The attack hit its target, doing quite a bit of damage which caused Joseph to call out "Come on! You've got him on the ropes!" D'Arby however, snarled, saying "That's what you think. This isn't over yet."

I raised an eyebrow asking "Am I getting under your skin?" D'Arby didn't flinch, instead he said "Not in the slightest, you got in one lucky combo. What next? Are you going to try another super attack?" Again, he seemed to pause. Before declaring. 

"You got one lucky combo in, it won't happen again." He went right on the offensive. He had his character throwing punches and kicks. I managed to block each attack before once again repeating the button input for the Hurricane Kick.

Normally, inputs for special attacks would be hard in this game, but with Page of Cups assisting me, I was able to perform the input with no issues whatsoever. And with that second special attack, I was able to land the finishing blow!

Joseph was cheering at this point. "You actually WON!" I let out a breathe I never thought I'd been holding. I was satisfied, but I knew I couldn't get my hopes up. There was one final round left. One final time to settle things. 

D'Arby spoke "One/one. Lucky you. But you're not out of the woods yet. One more rounds will decide how this match goes. Good luck." I could tell the last part was laced in sarcasm. Nevertheless, I watched as the message came up.

"Final round, FIGHT!"

Too my surprise, D'Arby didn't do anything. His fighter remained still and motionless. I looked over to him to see him grinning at me. I noted only a thin layer of sweat on his face as he spoke.

"So, tell me. You've won one round. Are you getting confident?" His words got me thinking. I couldn't afford to be confident in a situation like this. Not when we were playing with souls. I had to keep my composure.

He paused, I was about to answer when he cut me off. "No, in fact. You seem rather calm. I can tell video games are not your expertise, but you're actually holding up pretty well."

What was his game? Just as he asked about my confidence and I'd thought not really, he brought it up. Could he... There was only one way to find out. 

I said "Let's get this over with then." D'Arby grinned, saying "I thought you'd never ask. You can make the first move. But I wonder, do you want to punch?" Pause. "Or kick?" Another pause. "Only time will tell."

I nodded "Well with this match. I'll figure out your secret."

Contrary to either of his earlier options, I started off with a Hadoken of my own! D'Arby's fighter managed to effortlessly dodge this by flipping over it and instantly parried with a jump kick.

I could tell he was about to go into another combo, so I quickly pulled my character back to block. I defended myself from the attacks, waiting for an opening before I instantly fought back myself.

D'Arby stated "I'll give you credit where it's due, your reaction times are impressive. The second there's an opening, you're pressing those buttons and fighting back. Not bad. But not good enough."

Our respective health bars were going down. It seemed we were neck and neck. This fight could go either way and that's what made me anxious. I had a chance of winning, but so did he. I had no idea what he had planned up his sleeve.

It came down to this. Both of us had hardly any health left, one super attack would certainly be enough to end this. Our characters were also extremely close to one another, so even going for a projectile didn't guarantee victory.  

D'Arby knew this as well, neither of us made a move for a moment. He looked at me, grinning "One more move. Are you feeling confident? I wonder how you'll react. Will you try a Hadoken? Or perhaps Shoryuken? Then again, maybe a Hurricane Kick?"

I didn't answer. Instead we both tensed and made our respective attacks. If my theory was right, he would know exactly what I was going to do. My character launched a Shoryuken, D'Arby had his character jump back before swiftly countering with a Hurricane kick!

Unfortunately, it was D'Arby's attack that hit. Winning him the round and the fight!

For a moment, I was left in shock. I'd lost! But, I was able to reconcile myself, I'd discovered D'Arby's secret. He knew what I was going to do without any indication. I had no certainty, but I had to warn the others.

D'Arby spoke "Well, would you look at that? It appears I won our little game. Not that I didn't see this coming. Either way, time to collect my prize."

I noticed Atum appear and with what energy I had left, I turned to Jotaro and Joseph, warning them. "Be careful... He can read..."

That was all I was able to say as I felt my soul be lifted from my body and transferred to the wretched doll he'd put together. Keeping it alongside Kakyoin, I could hear him saying. 

"So, another of your friends it mine. Wasn't as fun as Kakyoin, but for an old guy, I did enjoy having him as an opponent. I'm glad he's a part of my collection now..."

Timeskip...

Following my own defeat, it was Jotaro's turn to step up to the plate. Quite literally as they ended up playing a baseball game. Jotaro managed to get D'Arby to wager both mine and Kakyoin's souls by wagering not only his, but Joseph's as well.

The game was difficult, but thanks to my advice as to D'Arby's ability, Jotaro quickly gained an understanding of what he was up against. We ended up figuring out that I was right, he could read minds, but only in yes/no answers. That's why he'd kept asking questions.

With this knowledge and Joseph's support, Jotaro managed to overcome the gamer. As my soul returned to my body, I slowly regained consciousness and looked up.

I saw Jotaro and Joseph both stood over the now snivelling D'Arby as the former asked "Here's a question. Will I hit you with my right fist, or my left?"

It was clear he was mocking his ability. D'Arby tried first. "P-please, just hit me with your right." Clearly, he didn't get the answer he was looking for as he stammered "Y-your left?" Again, he mustn't have been pleased with the answer as he finally said "BOTH?!"

Another pause was followed by "Are you going to do the 'Ora Ora' thing?!" Joseph muttered "Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh my God!" And I knew just what would come next.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"

Star Platinum railed punches on D'Arby, eventually sending him flying and crashing right into a wall designed to look like the sky! I chose now to step forward, saying "Seems I woke up just in time."

Joseph turned to me, lecturing "What were you thinking Gyalzen! That was reckless and foolish of you!" I shrugged and said "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help. I did discover his ability's nature though didn't I?" 

Turning to Jotaro, I bowed and said "Thank you Jotaro. I am forever in your debt." Jotaro commented "Whatever old man. Just don't throw yourself into stupid situations. All you did was give me something to look out for right away."

At the end of the day, he was right. Instead I said "Very well. You have my word." Was I being truthful? Perhaps not. Who knows what I'd do when we were finally faced with DIO. 

I had to wonder what the others were up to at this point...

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter, the end of the second D'Arby arc. Now all we have two left, Vanilla Ice and DIO himself. I really hope you enjoyed and as always, thank you for reading.